After a period of relative silence, Harvey Weinstein came out swinging Wednesday against claims he built a "complicity machine" to abuse women and used his company as a personal piggy bank.

Weinstein's criminal lawyers and spokespeople shared lengthy new statements that addressed a raft of fresh allegations in a New York Times piece published late Tuesday.

The damaging piece reported Weinstein once had an assistant use his corporate credit card to rent him a furnished apartment stocked with women's lingerie, flowers, two bathrobes and extra clothes.

Weinstein also put women on movie production payrolls without clear assignments and wanted his company to pay for a private jet stop in Europe to pick up a model, the Times reported.

"At no time during his tenure at either Miramax or TWC did Mr. Weinstein ever utilize company resources for personal expenditures, and in the few instances where there was any confusion, Mr. Weinstein immediately reimbursed the company out of his own pocket," lawyers Blair Berk and Ben Brafman said in their new statement distributed widely Wednesday.

They said Weinstein personally paid for all of his confidential settlements and even floated the company with his own money when necessary.

"Each and every one of the handful of conflicts ever settled over 30 years was paid by Mr. Weinstein personally with the knowledge of the company and/or its counsel. During Mr. Weinstein's tenure, he not only loaned the company money, but he deferred payments owed to him and he personally guaranteed company loans in order for the company to survive," the statement said.

The lawyers then updated their client's blanket denial statement regarding the wave of rape allegations from actresses including Rose McGowan, Asia Argento, Annabella Sciorra and Paz de la Huerta.

"Mr. Weinstein has never at any time committed an act of sexual assault, and it is wrong and irresponsible to conflate claims of impolitic behavior or consensual sexual contact later regretted with an untrue claim of criminal conduct," the lawyers' statement said.

"There is a wide canyon between mere allegation and truth, and we are confident that any sober calculation of the facts will prove no legal wrongdoing occurred."

Weinstein, however, "remains deeply apologetic" to anyone "offended" by his behaviour, the statement read.

Weinstein, 65, was fired from his company and entered a vaguely described treatment program in Arizona after back-to-back exposes in The Times and New Yorker magazine included accounts of sexual misconduct from actresses including Ashley Judd, Mira Sorvino and Rosanna Arquette.

The stories led to an avalanche of similar accounts from other actresses, models and Hollywood hopefuls.

The Times story published Tuesday detailed the various ways Weinstein allegedly used his industry influence to gain complicity from other powerful people and silence his accusers.

It claimed Weinstein levered his relationship with National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard in an attempt to silence accuser Ambra Battilana Gutierrez in 2015.

According to The Times, Howard's company tried to pay Battilana Gutierrez for exclusive rights to her story under a "catch and kill" scheme that would have then shelved the story.

The Times said Howard also hired a reporter to collect hostile commentary about McGowan.

A Weinstein spokeswoman said the disgraced movie mogul worked with Howard on documentaries over the years but never asked him to muzzle anyone.

"At no time was Mr. Howard ever asked to 'dig up damaging information on actresses,'" the spokeswoman said. "The company informed Mr. Howard about allegations on social media being made about Mr. Weinstein by Rose McGowan and said they thought it might be a good article for him to pursue. Mr. Howard did his research and decided to not do the article," she said.

Attempts to reach Howard were not immediately successful Wednesday.

The Enquirer's parent company American Media issued a statement through a consultant.

"AMI apologizes for any part it unwittingly played in Mr. Weinstein's well documented manipulation of his business and personal relationships in his efforts to combat his accusers," the statement said.

After a period of relative silence, Harvey Weinstein came out swinging Wednesday against claims he built a "complicity machine" to abuse women and used his company as a personal piggy bank.

Weinstein's criminal lawyers and spokespeople shared lengthy new statements that addressed a raft of fresh allegations in a New York Times piece published late Tuesday.

The damaging piece reported Weinstein once had an assistant use his corporate credit card to rent him a furnished apartment stocked with women's lingerie, flowers, two bathrobes and extra clothes.

Weinstein also put women on movie production payrolls without clear assignments and wanted his company to pay for a private jet stop in Europe to pick up a model, the Times reported.

"At no time during his tenure at either Miramax or TWC did Mr. Weinstein ever utilize company resources for personal expenditures, and in the few instances where there was any confusion, Mr. Weinstein immediately reimbursed the company out of his own pocket," lawyers Blair Berk and Ben Brafman said in their new statement distributed widely Wednesday.

They said Weinstein personally paid for all of his confidential settlements and even floated the company with his own money when necessary.

"Each and every one of the handful of conflicts ever settled over 30 years was paid by Mr. Weinstein personally with the knowledge of the company and/or its counsel. During Mr. Weinstein's tenure, he not only loaned the company money, but he deferred payments owed to him and he personally guaranteed company loans in order for the company to survive," the statement said.

The lawyers then updated their client's blanket denial statement regarding the wave of rape allegations from actresses including Rose McGowan, Asia Argento, Annabella Sciorra and Paz de la Huerta.

"Mr. Weinstein has never at any time committed an act of sexual assault, and it is wrong and irresponsible to conflate claims of impolitic behavior or consensual sexual contact later regretted with an untrue claim of criminal conduct," the lawyers' statement said.

"There is a wide canyon between mere allegation and truth, and we are confident that any sober calculation of the facts will prove no legal wrongdoing occurred."

Weinstein, however, "remains deeply apologetic" to anyone "offended" by his behaviour, the statement read.

Weinstein, 65, was fired from his company and entered a vaguely described treatment program in Arizona after back-to-back exposes in The Times and New Yorker magazine included accounts of sexual misconduct from actresses including Ashley Judd, Mira Sorvino and Rosanna Arquette.

The stories led to an avalanche of similar accounts from other actresses, models and Hollywood hopefuls.

The Times story published Tuesday detailed the various ways Weinstein allegedly used his industry influence to gain complicity from other powerful people and silence his accusers.

It claimed Weinstein levered his relationship with National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard in an attempt to silence accuser Ambra Battilana Gutierrez in 2015.

According to The Times, Howard's company tried to pay Battilana Gutierrez for exclusive rights to her story under a "catch and kill" scheme that would have then shelved the story.

The Times said Howard also hired a reporter to collect hostile commentary about McGowan.

A Weinstein spokeswoman said the disgraced movie mogul worked with Howard on documentaries over the years but never asked him to muzzle anyone.

"At no time was Mr. Howard ever asked to 'dig up damaging information on actresses,'" the spokeswoman said. "The company informed Mr. Howard about allegations on social media being made about Mr. Weinstein by Rose McGowan and said they thought it might be a good article for him to pursue. Mr. Howard did his research and decided to not do the article," she said.

Attempts to reach Howard were not immediately successful Wednesday.

The Enquirer's parent company American Media issued a statement through a consultant.

"AMI apologizes for any part it unwittingly played in Mr. Weinstein's well documented manipulation of his business and personal relationships in his efforts to combat his accusers," the statement said.

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After a period of relative silence, Harvey Weinstein came out swinging Wednesday against claims he built a "complicity machine" to abuse women and used his company as a personal piggy bank.

Weinstein's criminal lawyers and spokespeople shared lengthy new statements that addressed a raft of fresh allegations in a New York Times piece published late Tuesday.

The damaging piece reported Weinstein once had an assistant use his corporate credit card to rent him a furnished apartment stocked with women's lingerie, flowers, two bathrobes and extra clothes.

Weinstein also put women on movie production payrolls without clear assignments and wanted his company to pay for a private jet stop in Europe to pick up a model, the Times reported.

"At no time during his tenure at either Miramax or TWC did Mr. Weinstein ever utilize company resources for personal expenditures, and in the few instances where there was any confusion, Mr. Weinstein immediately reimbursed the company out of his own pocket," lawyers Blair Berk and Ben Brafman said in their new statement distributed widely Wednesday.

They said Weinstein personally paid for all of his confidential settlements and even floated the company with his own money when necessary.

"Each and every one of the handful of conflicts ever settled over 30 years was paid by Mr. Weinstein personally with the knowledge of the company and/or its counsel. During Mr. Weinstein's tenure, he not only loaned the company money, but he deferred payments owed to him and he personally guaranteed company loans in order for the company to survive," the statement said.

The lawyers then updated their client's blanket denial statement regarding the wave of rape allegations from actresses including Rose McGowan, Asia Argento, Annabella Sciorra and Paz de la Huerta.

"Mr. Weinstein has never at any time committed an act of sexual assault, and it is wrong and irresponsible to conflate claims of impolitic behavior or consensual sexual contact later regretted with an untrue claim of criminal conduct," the lawyers' statement said.

"There is a wide canyon between mere allegation and truth, and we are confident that any sober calculation of the facts will prove no legal wrongdoing occurred."

Weinstein, however, "remains deeply apologetic" to anyone "offended" by his behaviour, the statement read.

Weinstein, 65, was fired from his company and entered a vaguely described treatment program in Arizona after back-to-back exposes in The Times and New Yorker magazine included accounts of sexual misconduct from actresses including Ashley Judd, Mira Sorvino and Rosanna Arquette.

The stories led to an avalanche of similar accounts from other actresses, models and Hollywood hopefuls.

The Times story published Tuesday detailed the various ways Weinstein allegedly used his industry influence to gain complicity from other powerful people and silence his accusers.

It claimed Weinstein levered his relationship with National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard in an attempt to silence accuser Ambra Battilana Gutierrez in 2015.

According to The Times, Howard's company tried to pay Battilana Gutierrez for exclusive rights to her story under a "catch and kill" scheme that would have then shelved the story.

The Times said Howard also hired a reporter to collect hostile commentary about McGowan.

A Weinstein spokeswoman said the disgraced movie mogul worked with Howard on documentaries over the years but never asked him to muzzle anyone.

"At no time was Mr. Howard ever asked to 'dig up damaging information on actresses,'" the spokeswoman said. "The company informed Mr. Howard about allegations on social media being made about Mr. Weinstein by Rose McGowan and said they thought it might be a good article for him to pursue. Mr. Howard did his research and decided to not do the article," she said.

Attempts to reach Howard were not immediately successful Wednesday.

The Enquirer's parent company American Media issued a statement through a consultant.

"AMI apologizes for any part it unwittingly played in Mr. Weinstein's well documented manipulation of his business and personal relationships in his efforts to combat his accusers," the statement said.